An office park is an area usually comprised of one or more buildings in which multiple offices are located. It is a type of commercial space, as opposed to residential or retail space. Normally, a commercial real estate investor owns the office park and rents individual offices to tenants; however, in some office parks, each tenant owns his or her own office space.

Office parks can be categorized around a certain type of office. For example, a medical office park may consist of a number of different doctor's offices, or of doctor's offices, lab testing facilities and dental offices. These types of office parks in which related businesses are grouped together are common, since it makes it more convenient for a person visiting one office to have access to related services.

On the other hand, an office park can just be a conglomeration of rental offices offered to numerous different individuals and types of businesses. These businesses are all separate entities who have little to do with one another, other than simply being neighbors. Each may rent its office space for different periods of time or under different lease terms.

There are several benefits to renting space in an office park for businesses. First, within the park, the business will be primarily surrounded by other professional entities and organizations. This will usually mean the office area is fairly quiet.

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Some office parks also provide common spaces or common amenities to the individuals renting space within the park. A conference room may be shared, for example, and each tenant of the park may be able to sign up to use the conference room at different times. While a fee may be charged to use the conference room or other shared amenities, this can often be less expensive for an office than having a dedicated conference room, since the business will not have to pay for that square footage unless it is using it.

Shared parking lots are also common in office parks, making it easy for people to find parking, as the lots are usually large. Because multiple offices are clustered together, services that cater to offices may also visit these office parks, making it easier for workers. For example, a lunch truck may come to an office park or a service that picks up peoples' dry cleaning may pick up regularly. These services would not necessarily be available in a stand-alone office space, but since groups of workers are clustered together, it becomes advantageous for other businesses to provide services to those within the office park.

Discuss this Article

LaotionnePost 2

I think office parks are more appealing than business parks if you are a professional looking for office space. And the office parks with a common theme, such as the medical office park mentioned in the article, are even more impressive to customers. However, it should be noted that these complexes can be more expensive than business parks, so when price is a consideration that is a big selling point for the less-specialized business park.

DrentelPost 1

When you start a small business from your home and money is tight, whether or not to rent office space and when to rent office space is a big issue. You can save money by working from your home, but when you are meeting customers a professional office says a lot about you and how serious you are about what you do.

The office park, though not as inexpensive as working from home, is a good alternative for businesses just starting out. Usually, you can find better rates when you are renting in an office park than you could for a comparable space outside of an office park.

Since an office park gives you a more professional appearance, you may actually be making a good financial move when you exit the home office and move to the office park. This type of complex is good advertising in itself.

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